After the Lunar New Year (1984).

At half past eight in the morning, Lin Zhichao arrived on time to work at the Cheung Kong headquarters in Victoria Harbour Centre, Central, he is an energetic person who rarely wastes his time on useless things. So even if he is the boss, he can sit in the office on time every morning.

Of course, this uselessness does not include 'women', in Lin Zhichao's life, 'career' and 'women' are equally important. If he only has a career and no woman, I'm afraid he will think what is the point of making money?

Throughout the first half of his life, there were six women who had been with him for a long time, and no less than ten women who had a pleasant exchange.

"Lin Shengzao"

Walking into the building, the staff in suits and leather shoes greeted Lin Zhichao energetically, and their eyes were full of admiration!

And these employees are all white-collar workers in Hong Kong, and their incomes are very high. For example, a full-time real estate employee of Cheung Kong Group has a monthly income of 10,000 Hong Kong dollars; The salary of workers in the factory outside is only 2500~3000 on average.

"Early"

Lin Zhichao responded gracefully, and then walked through the crowd with steady steps towards the executive-only elevator. The elevator is manned 24 hours a day and is only available to senior executives at the Harbour Centre, which helps to improve the efficiency of the business.

Of course, Lin Zhichao will not build an exclusive elevator that leads directly to the 52nd floor of the building or something, after all, this is a bit wasteful.

Today's elevator does go straight to the 52nd floor of the Cheung Kong Group headquarters hub, which is where the brains of the Cheung Kong Group are located. Not far from the elevator, there is immediately a door, and there is a beautiful woman at the front desk to welcome you when you walk in.

The hall is not for the staff to work, but is arranged like a 'small bridge flowing water', 'Jiangnan Garden', through these are the high-level offices, and Lin Zhichao's office is located near the Victoria Harbour in the most positive one, a full 2000 square feet, with a reception area, a meeting area, a lounge, an office area, luxurious and elegant, clean and tidy.

Read the newspaper, drink tea, and finally lean back in your chair to think.

Thinking has become Lin Zhichao's most important work.

What the company should do next is in his brain, which is also the core of the development of his company.

Cheung Kong Group, the total investment in the Exchange Square will be as high as 7.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (land cost of 5 billion + 2.8 billion construction costs), and the investment in the Admiralty Yangtze River Plaza will reach more than 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (only counting the construction cost and decoration costs, it is expected to exceed 2.5 billion, and the decoration is very expensive), just these two projects will require at least 10.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

In other real estate companies, such as Sun Hung Kai and New World, they can't play at all, after all, this is a rental property, and the return on investment is very slow. Even if it was Cheung Kong in the previous life, he couldn't play.

But Cheung Kong Group obviously has no problem, just exchanging 1.3 billion US dollars in its hands, it will obtain 10.5 billion Hong Kong dollars. The current market value of Cheung Kong Group's shares in the UK has reached more than 200 million US dollars (principal of 100 million US dollars), and it also injected 200 million US dollars into Japan's Higashida last year.

The debt ratio of Cheung Kong Group is extremely low, only 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars of debt, and because the total assets should be around 30 billion yuan (calculated based on the current asset value), the debt ratio is not even 10%.

Although Lin Zhichao has entered the banking industry, it does not mean that no bank is willing to receive Cheung Kong Group, even HSBC and Standard Chartered are willing to lend, but it is impossible to lend too much; However, Lin Zhichao has also established cooperative relations with large overseas banks such as Chase Bank and Wanguo Baotong, so there is no problem for Cheung Kong Group to borrow.

What's more, Octopus Financial Group can also lend money to Cheung Kong Group, so the development potential of Cheung Kong Group is still 'infinite'!

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Lin Ruihuan, Mai Lisi, Zhou Fuzhao, Zhou Huai'an, Hu Zhaoxu, Huo Jianning, and the 'new and old six' of Cheung Kong came to Lin Zhichao's office.

Each of these six giants has its main responsibilities: Lin Ruihuan is responsible for the overall situation and large-scale commercial projects, Mai Lisi is responsible for government affairs (internal housekeeper), Zhou Fuzhao is responsible for finance (financial and technical arrangement), Zhou Huaian is responsible for the development of real estate (sales-oriented projects), Hu Zhaoxu is responsible for sales and marketing, Huo Jianning is responsible for overseas expansion, and assists Zhou Fuzhao in arranging financial technology.

Zhou Fuzhao and Hu Zhaoxu are old ministers who will retire within five years, but they already have successors. Zhou Fuzhao's successor is, of course, Huo Jianning, and Hu Zhaoxu's successor is his deputy Li Minghui, the first female general of the Cheung Kong department.

Seven people sit in the meeting area of the chairman's office and conduct meetings.

Lin Zhichao first said: "Cheung Kong Group already has two local commercial projects, if the Miramar Hotel is recycled and temporarily put on hold, we will get a huge amount of compensation anyway." ”

Everyone laughed, the 88,000 square feet of land in the old wing of the Miramar Hotel was sold to Jianing and Hongkong Land for 2.8 billion yuan, and because the two companies suffered, especially Jianing went bankrupt, Hongkong Land guaranteed the project, so Cheung Kong Group collected a total of 900 million Hong Kong dollars in tart booking fees, and Hongkong Land still needs to be compensated (at least 300 million Hong Kong dollars), and finally the land has to be returned to Cheung Kong Industrial Group.

It is equivalent to making 1.2 billion for nothing!

Of course, from another point of view, this land has been shelved for many years, and Cheung Kong Group will also lose some income. However, the business of Miramar Hotel is not affected, after all, a brand new hotel tower has been built next to it (the site of Lok Fu Building), and as for the shopping mall, it is also somewhat old, not as good as Harbour City, New World Centre, and a large number of commercial complexes in Tsim Sha Tsui East.

"Chairman, Singapore's Daimaru Department Store is already in a dilapidated state on Orchard Road and out of step with the emerging shopping malls, so it's time to consider rebuilding it into a first-class shopping mall and hotel complex. ”

Cheung Kong Group has two commercial projects in Singapore, each of which occupies 100,000 square feet and is located in the best part of Orchard Road.

After thinking about it, Lin Zhichao said: "You can start designing and planning, since you want to rebuild, you must be beautiful enough!" ”

Lin Ruihuan said: "Okay"

In the 70s, the buildings built in Hong Kong were actually using computers to control lighting, ventilation, fire protection, etc., although personal computers were not yet widespread at that time, but a commercial computer cost only 400,000 US dollars, and the interior of the building has been completely modernized.

Nowadays, personal computers have begun to become popular, and even Lin Zhichao's office has installed computers, although there is no Internet, but he can also do some office.

Based on this, it is time for Daimaru Department Store to be rebuilt into a first-class shopping mall + hotel complex, firmly occupying an important commercial position on Orchard Road.

In fact, many of Lim's businesses have extended to Singapore.

Next, Lin Zhichao said: "In terms of real estate development, Cheung Kong has actually accumulated four large housing estates - Tin Shui Wai, Whampoa Dockyard, Ap Lei Chau and Cha Kwo Ling Oil Depot, and the construction of large housing estates on these four sites alone is expected to provide 40,000 residential units, which is the development strategy of Cheung Kong in the 80s and 90s - focusing on the development of large housing estates. Of course, these large estates belong to the Cheung Kong family, not just the Cheung Kong Group. ”

There were happy expressions on everyone's faces!

At this time, Cheung Kong Group held 48% of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa and 55% of the shares of Qingzhou British Mud; Hutchison Whampoa holds 34.7% HK Electric. This is the holding of listed companies, and if it is connected to non-listed companies, there are hundreds of descendant companies.

Soldiers are strong!

"Cheung Kong Group's reserve land can build 18 million square feet of floor space, which is enough for about 10 years of development, not counting large estates," said Zhou Huai'an

In recent years, even in the trough of real estate, Cheung Kong Group has not acquired much land, mainly to invest in commercial projects and financial projects.

However, even if it is a real estate trough, Cheung Kong Group will complete 80~1 million square feet of floor space every year for sales (goods such as rotation), so the reserve land has declined.

There is also the 300,000 square feet of reserve land in the Navy Yard, which has been converted into 5 million square feet of commercial area.

But even then, it's nearly twice as much as Sun Hung Kai, which is estimated to be less than 10 million square feet (in terms of floor space).

Lin Zhichao said: "Now that several commercial projects have been finalized and the company's cash flow is relatively abundant, it is necessary to continue to increase the reserve land. However, considering the increasing economic development of Hong Kong, we should develop towards large-scale housing estates, high-end residential buildings and large-scale housing, so we should increase investment in this area. ”

Zhou Huai'an nodded and said, "Okay, I've written it down!" ”

Even if Cheung Kong Asset Group allocates the construction costs of Cheung Kong Plaza and Exchange Square (all of which are allocated), it still has a cash flow of more than one billion Hong Kong dollars; Moreover, it is also possible to take out loans for development.

Next, Lin Zhichao said: "How is the business in Japan going? ”

Huo Jianning immediately said: "Raffles City in Chiba Prefecture and Kanagawa Prefecture has entered the preliminary preparatory stage, with an estimated total investment of 1.2 billion US dollars (including land), 300 million US dollars will be invested by Dongtian Enterprises, another 500 million US dollars, and the remaining 400 million US dollars will be invested by Tsutsumi Yoshikata. At the same time, we have verbally secured US$500 million in loans from a consortium of banks using these two Raffles City as collateral, and together with the Raffles City construction funds available to us, we are ready to continue to acquire properties in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with four commercial sites and three commercial complexes currently planned."

As soon as his words fell, everyone was incredulous.

Zhou Fuzhao immediately said: "Boss, with such a small amount of capital, isn't it very risky to leverage to invest in properties in this strange place in Japan!" ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "What are you afraid of, Victoria Harbour Investment accounts for 60% of the shares, and Cheung Kong only accounts for 40% of the shares!" Besides, you know why I'm so risky? ”

Everyone shook their heads!

Lin Zhichao said: "There must be an explosion period in Japanese real estate, and I am optimistic that it will be in the late 80s, so you don't need to worry about risks. For example, I made five times as much money in six years as I invested in commercial office buildings in the U.S. after the oil crisis, and I believe I can do the same in Japan this time. ”

After all, the face value of investing in nine Manhattan 'securities' was $350 million; But around 1982, the securities were worth $2 billion.

That's the beauty of leverage!

It's the same with investing in Japanese real estate now, Higashida Real Estate started with $500 million, but now it's ready to do more than $2 billion. And you can continue to leverage in the future, as long as the Japanese real estate growth rate is considerable every year, that little interest is not worth mentioning.

In mid-February, Wharf Group issued two announcements, which caused heated discussions in the market.

First, Executive Director Lam Sui Hoi will be appointed Deputy Managing Director of Wharf Group.

Second, Wharf Group's Times Square officially started construction (Hong Kong Tramway Bay Russell Street Main Plant site), the whole project includes two 46-storey and 38-storey office buildings - Clam Building, Westminster Abbey Building, and a 16-storey integrated shopping mall, accommodating a total of 300 shops, 18 restaurants, 4 cinemas and 700 parking spaces, with a total building area of 2.4 million square feet (shopping mall + office).

Times Square is expected to take five years to build, with the opening in early 1989. The building is surrounded by a 33,000-square-foot open garden plaza with a large clock tower in the corner of the building, which will be the best office building in Causeway Bay and the hallmark of the district. Since there is no need to pay land premium for the construction of Times Square, the entire investment cost is only 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

As soon as the news came out, the market was sensational again!

"Sir Lin is really a gamble! Others are considering immigration, but he has invested heavily in Hong Kong, including Exchange Square, Yangtze River Square, Hong Kong Electric Lighting, and Times Square, which is a total investment of more than 15 billion! ”

"Not really! I haven't heard of any real estate developer who dares to invest at this time, Lin Sheng is really not afraid of chickens and eggs! ”

"Crazy, I think Lin Sheng is crazy! He thought that he had been smooth sailing for more than 30 years, and he could gamble, but he didn't know that he only needed to lose once and it would be over! ”

"Nonsense, Cheung Kong, Hutchison, and Wharf Group are now all enterprises with sufficient cash flow and low debt, how can they lose once? It's not Landmark! ”

"In short, I think this is a risky plan and is not responsible to shareholders!"

"Are you a shareholder?"

"I'm not!"

"Well, I am a shareholder of these companies, and I can responsibly tell you that the shares of these companies are rising against the market!"

"Ah, crazy, you're all crazy!"

Good evaluations account for the vast majority, after all, Lin Zhichao has been in the business world for more than 30 years and has never missed the situation, so the shareholders of his company trust him very much.

There is also a certain bad evaluation, everyone thinks that Lin Zhichao is too hasty, even if he waits for the dust of the Sino-British negotiations to settle and invest, wouldn't it be safer.

In fact, Lin Zhichao also saw the bad evaluation, and he also recognized this evaluation. Even Li Jiacheng in his previous life only wanted to invest 10 billion in Hong Kong when he became an adult after negotiations between China and Britain.

And Lin Zhichao made an investment decision directly at the most dangerous time, and he was indeed risky!

However, Lin Zhichao has his own reasons:

First of all, when his investments are at a low point, he can save construction costs (building materials, labor, etc.);

Secondly, the Yangtze River Plaza (completed at the end of 1988), Exchange Square (completed in 1985 and 1988, the first and second phases were completed successively), and Times Square (completed in early 1989), all of which were completed before the spring of 1989, which was the peak period of real estate, which was conducive to the growth of rents.

Finally, these companies have cash flow in their hands, so they naturally need to invest as soon as possible, so that they can continue to expand overseas in the later stage.

To sum up, just wait until September this year, and even the final bad evaluation, they will apologize to Lin Zhichao. (End of chapter)